Galatians 4:21-31 Tell me, you who desire to be subject to the law, will you not listen to the law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. ²³One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. ²⁴Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. ²⁵Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷For it is written,'Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children, burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs; for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than the children of the one who is married.' ²⁸Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac. ²⁹But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. ³⁰But what does the scripture say? 'Drive out the slave and her child; for the child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.' ³¹So then, friends, we are children, not of the slave but of the free woman.

Tevye, in Fiddler on the Roof, plays a scene in which he tries to make a decision. He talks it over with himself, out loud, looking at the argument on the one hand and then the other hand. All of a sudden, he says, "There is no other hand!" That is when the decision is made.

Paul worries that the Galatians will watch their faith in Christ turn back into a religion of rules. The Christians there were going back to thinking through the Old Covenant. That one never promised eternal life. It was to guide the people so that they did not err and wander. But the Christians were trying to dump full and free forgiveness for a series of rules for behavior.

It would seem easy for me to tell you what the rules are for the Christian life. Pastor, just tell me what I have to do and then leave me alone. But it does not work that way. I get to tell you about salvation in Christ. I get to tell you about the gifts you have been given. I get to tell you that the Holy Spirit calls and guides you. I get to send out letters like I did in the early Spring. But I do not get to TELL you what to do. If I do, I turn the free Gospel into something with demands. Luther was so freed in Christ that he would rather die than slip back.

There is no other hand. Just as Ishmael was rejected and Isaac was chosen, the Old Covenant is now gone and the New Covenant of forgiveness in Christ has come. There is no other hand (for believers). Come and worship and serve the Resurrected Lord, Summer and Winter, and Fall and Spring. Every day, every time, in everything!

In Christ our Lord and Savior,
Pastor Thomas Trapp